CATO THE ELDER
[a.k.a. Cato the Censor]

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uring the time of Cato, the Romans were superstitious and believed in charms and incantations or carmina. The word carmen means a chant, song, poem, or incantation. Cato wrote a book of prayers or incantations for the dead in verse, known as Carmen de moribus. It also included his own conservative moral views and religious ideas.

"His very manner of speaking seemed to have such a kind of idea with it; for it was courteous, and yet forcible; pleasant, yet overwhelming; facetious, yet austere; sententious, and yet vehement; like Socrates, in the description of Plato, who seemed outwardly to those about him to be but a simple, talkative, blunt fellow; whilst at the bottom he was full of such gravity and matter as would even move tears and touch the very hearts of his auditors. (Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, p. 416)

Cato wrote over 150 speeches whose existence we know of only from quotes and references found in the works of later authors, but only a few fragments still remain. One oration exemplifies Cato's style and the following is a paragraph from this speech advocating the declaration of war on Rhodes:

Scio solere hominibus [in] rebus secundus atque prolixis atque prosperis animum excellere, atque superbiam atque ferociam augescere atque crescere. Quo mihi nunc magnae curae est, quod haec res tam secunde processit, ne quid in consulendo aduorsi eueniat, quod nostras

Though his views concerning politics and public morals were too conservative, in light of the Roman society’s changing values and more liberal ideas brought in by foreigners, his ideas on the importance of rhetoric and open public discussion and the compilation of Roman knowledge written in Latin in encyclopedic form represented a major contribution to Latin literature. Cato’s influence thus preserved the Latin language. One last interesting piece of information is his epigram (p. 115, Lives of the Noble Romans, Plutarch): “Porcius, who snarls at all in every place, With his gray eyes, and with his fiery face, Even after death will scarce admitted be Into the infernal realms by Hecate.” Et memento—delenda est carthago : And remember—Carthage must be destroyed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Duff, J. Wight & Duff, A. M., Ed. A LITERARY HISTORY OF ROME FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE CLOSE OF THE GOLDEN AGE. London: Ernest Benn Ltd, 1960
Duff, J. Wight & Duff, A. M. Ed. A LITERARY HISTORY OF ROME IN THE SILVER AGE FROM TIBERIUS TO HADRIAN 3RD EDITION. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1964
Hadas, Moses. A HISTORY OF LATIN LITERATURE. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952 Hooper, Finley & Schwartz, Matthew.
ROMAN LETTERS—HISTORY FROM A PERSONAL POINT OF VIEW. Michigan: Wayne State University Press, 1991
Kennedy, George. THE ART OF RHETORIC IN THE ROMAN WORLD: 300 B.C.—300 A.D. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1972
Mackail, J. W. LATIN LITERATURE. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1966 Microsoft Encarta, Marcus Porcius Cato, (1995)
Plutarch. LIVES OF THE NOBLE GRECIANS & ROMANS. New York: Dell, 1962 Plutarch. TEN FAMOUS LIVES. London: Bodley Head Pub, 1962
Rose, H. J. A HANDBOOK OF LATIN LITERATURE 3RD ED. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. Pub, 1967 Scullard, Howard Hayes.
“Cato, Marcus Porcius.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 1971

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Source: hoflink.com/~jhlb/cato1.htm

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